Film. Franchise. Fandom.

Terminator’s Dark Fate

I
love the Terminator franchise; I always have. There’s such something so poignant
about the Frankenstein Monster of the 20th Century. The T-800 isn’t
just a robot, it’s a hulking reminder of man’s dependency on technology, and
the terror of losing control over one’s creation.

Embodied
as a red-eyed metal endoskeleton, the original story is an excellent Sci-Fi
horror. Drawing upon his love of John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), James
Cameron gave us Terminator (1984). In true horror fashion, it sees a sentient
AI travel through time with the one purpose of killing Sarah Connor and
snuffing out the human resistance pre-infancy. With only time-traveller Kyle
Reese to help her, a paradox is created when he becomes the father of future-saviour
John Connor … it’s a simple horror, with a great Sci-Fi premise, and an
interesting paradox.

Then there’s the sequel Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), which gave us an even more formidable machine in the T-1000, and a closed paradox as Skynet is defeated. The reprogrammed T-800 gives his life in an emotional farewell, and we end with the powerful message of the future not being set – surprisingly similar to Back to the Future the more I think about it …

Regardless, these two films cemented the Terminator franchise in the hearts and minds of Sci-Fi fans everywhere. But it wasn’t built to last.

Following
the expertly concluded Judgement Day, it was only natural to have a
transmedia presence. There was of course a TV series – The Sarah Connor
Chronicles. We got more sequels – Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,
Terminator: Salvation, Terminator: Genysis, and that was only the
start.

In comics, T-800s fought everyone from Robocop to Superman. There were games, merchandise, theme park rides, 4D stunt shows with exclusive appearances by the T-1,000,000. It was everywhere.

Two of the more bizarre comic crossovers: Superman vs Terminator: Death to the Future (1999), and Robocop Versus The Terminator (1992).

Now,
we’re at Terminator: Dark Fate – a movie that hasn’t done very well
considering its recognisability. So, for this post I wanted to explore what
went wrong, and how a disorganised narrative led to the collapse of such an
iconic Sci-Fi premise.

THE
FUTURE IS NOT SET

One
of the most infuriating aspects of this franchise is the convoluted nature of
time travel. In the first two movies it’s simple. Judgement Day happens in
1997, John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time from 2029, Kyle Reese fathers
John Connor with Sarah Connor (then he dies). Then in T2 they destroy Skynet
and alter the future … simple, right?

The
issue is it’s a closed loop paradox – perfect for the message of creating a
better future, but not great when you want to establish a long-running
franchise.

Then you have Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines which says that Judgement Day now happens in 2003. Then Terminator Genysis puts judgement day back again in 2017 following a mobile app created by Skynet disguising itself as “Genysis,” and that’s before you even consider the Sarah Connor Chronicles which was set after T2 in a non-canon timeline with multiple other futures and EIGHT different Judgement Days.

I
bring this all up because a transmedia franchise needs mythos. Whenever you
craft a world, you need to have a definitive idea of the history, characters,
and most importantly – philosophy.

After
the T-800 sacrifices himself to avert Judgement Day, and we get a speech about how
the future isn’t set, one movie later and all of that doesn’t matter – ALL OF
IT! Not a thing was changed, and the characters’ actions have no impact.
Instead, the philosophy inadvertently becomes a nihilistic mess: “Judgement Day
is coming, and you’re powerless to stop it!”

The
franchise is dependent more on aesthetics than creating anything meaningful.

Not
to mention, it’s impossible to even keep track of how time travel even works
any more – in one alternate past/future Sarah Connor travels to 2017 … after a
parallel T-800 goes back in time to raise her … and then John Connor becomes a Terminator?

If
the franchise can’t keep its story straight, why should we care?

THE
FUTURE IS WHAT WE MAKE IT

Let’s talk about reboots, or rather ignoring the past. Terminator: Dark Fate is marketed to us as “just forget everything after Terminator 2; this is the ‘real’ Terminator 3.” Except those films existed, and it’s difficult to forget decades-worth of story to make this movie work.

Producer, James Cameron explaining how this is the “direct sequel” to T2 – Paramount Pictures Featurette.

There are now 4 different “Terminator 3s:” Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Live Action Show, and now Terminator: Dark Fate. Again, it’s a mess.

Moreover,
it’s very difficult to stay invested in a franchise that functions like this. I
actually watched Judgement Day as a refresher, and the first scene in
this movie feels like it ignores what happened in that instalment – especially
with the shock right at the start.

Dark
Fate
is perhaps the best Terminator movie since the second one, this time with a
story by James Cameron himself. I think this adds credence to the “auteur”
approach to franchises that we’re starting to see.

Take
Star Wars: The Last Jedi for example. As it’s not part of George Lucas’
vision, some fans refuse to view it as official “canon.” I think Dark Fate
is an inverse of this way of thinking – with Cameron doing the story, this is
the true sequel to T2. Yeah, it’s good. But it still irks me that
it’s still predominantly driven by aesthetics.

The
AI antagonist isn’t even Skynet, it’s some other thing that ended up creating
their own robo-apocalypse and sending something practically identical to
Terminator back in time. The action is great, and the original characters are
cool, but that’s it – it’s just another Terminator movie; and that’s not
a good enough USP for many.

I
often wonder what risk I’d even take with this franchise – how do you develop a
world where the main plot point is a paradox? Marvel’s done very well exploring
different genres: Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Comedy, Heist, teen drama, and next decade –
horror.

Either
way, something needs to change.

IT
IS IN OUR NATURE TO DESTROY OURSELVES

Dark
Fate
risks losing a lot at the box office, and to me it’s clear why – the storyworld
just wasn’t structured for expansion. It’s like trying to build a franchise out
of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It just wasn’t made for that.

Terminator
may need to find a way to branch outside of their comfort zone, take a real
bold risk like putting Skynet far in the past. Maybe they could try a different
century, like the Victorian era, the 1700s. Maybe there’s a mistake and he winds
up in early America and has to experience history first-hand; doing his best to
find purpose when he can’t fulfil his mission … I dunno. They may be weird ideas,
but you can bet they’d be different.

I
think Terminator serves as a warning to any writers thinking that it’s
just a case of writing a script and then selling it. There needs to be
consideration on how to sustainably develop the world, characters, and how best
to use the mediums available to you.

Otherwise,
you’re reliant more on aesthetics and designs. Glowing red eyes and a metal skeleton
is a fascinating concept and can be thematically interpreted a number of ways. But
Dark Fate almost banked on this design, instead of taking a chance on a
new concept for the film’s antagonist.

If
you’re a terminator fan, I still suggest giving it a watch – there were some
action scenes that warranted the silver screen treatment. At the very least it feels
closest to the “one true” Terminator 3 we were promised. But sadly, I don’t see
it resonating with general audiences the same way the first two instalments did.